The removal of senior left-hander Eric Heatter from the mound just before the start of the bottom of the seventh inning created a domino effect that led to a bizarre ending in the top-seeded St. Joseph High School baseball team’s dramatic 1-0 victory over sixth-seeded Monroe for the 2017 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship.

Heatter, the league’s ERA leader who is headed to Rutgers University on an athletic scholarship, traded zeroes with counterpart Kyle Angel, a Northeastern University signee, before experiencing some soreness in his throwing shoulder while attempting two warm-up pitches, according to Monroe head coach Pat Geroni.

“The trainer said while we were hitting (in the top of the seventh) that he was tightening up a little bit,” Geroni explained. “I said, 'You make the call. You’re the trainer. That’s why you’re here.' We sent him out to the mound to see how (Heatter) was. He threw a pitch and didn’t look comfortable at all. I asked the trainer, “What do you think it is?’ He said it could be something with the rotator cuff. And that was in the middle of the second warm-up pitch. I said, 'That’s it.’ I went out and that (pitching) change was being made. It wasn’t left up to Eric. Unfortunately, those things happen in sports.”

Heatter, who entered the GMCT final with a deceptive 4-3 record and a 0.29 ERA, left the game having looked as untouchable as he has all season, allowing two hits, fanning eight and not issuing a walk in an economical 67-pitch effort.

With Seton Hall University commit Nick Payero ineligible after having thrown a complete game in Friday’s heartbreaking 4-3 Central Group IV quarterfinal loss to Montgomery, Chris Perdoni moved from second base to the mound to replace Heatter.

After getting leadoff batter Ross Maertz, who leads St. Joseph with five home runs, to fly out to deep right-center field, Perdoni hit Brandon Warick with a 1-1 breaking pitch that didn’t break. Matt Hennelly was inserted as a courtesy runner for Warick. Angel then laced the first pitch he saw to center field for a single. Connor Esposito was inserted as a courtesy runner for Angel. Geroni walked out to the mound to talk things over with his defense, but nothing could have prepared him or his fielders for the bizarre sequence that ensued.

Senior second baseman Nick Loffredo, who singled in his previous at-bat, scorched the first pitch he saw through the left side of the infield. The ball was hit too hard and outfielder Joe Pedulla possesses too strong of an arm for St. Joseph head coach Mike Murray to wave Hennelly home. Esposito, however, never saw Murray throw up the stop sign and sprinted around second base. Esposito was already more than halfway to third with teammate Hennelly standing on the bag in front of him when Pedulla threw a strike from left field to catcher Tim Ruckdeschel. Ruckdeschel threw down to the second baseman who served as a defensive replacement for Perdoni. The second baseman ran Esposito, who was trapped in a rundown, back toward third base, where Hennelly was still standing, and tagged Esposito out. Loffredo, one of St. Joseph’s smartest players, both in the classroom and in terms of game acumen, took off for second base as the run-down was ending. The backup second baseman, whose feet were not completely set after tagging out Esposito, turned and fired down to shortstop Payero covering second base. The throw was in the dirt, allowing Loffredo to slide safely into second head first. More importantly, Hennelly easily crossed home without drawing a throw from Payero to the plate.

“When I saw that ball bounce, I had to run as fast asI ever had,” said Hennelly, making an analogy of his split-second decision to break for home to a dirt read from second base on a pitch that bounces before the plate. “I had to go. I couldn't hesitate.”

Loffredo had the best vantage point of anyone on the entire field and explained his decision to break for second base during the 7-2-4-6 rundown play, which he knew could have resulted in the third out of the inning.

“Running to first base, I was staring at Matty, who is trying to round third,” Loffredo explained of what he saw after lacing his single to left. “I see ‘Espo’ caught in between the bases and I’m standing at first base jumping up and down and yelling ‘Connor!’ I start coming off the bag a little bit. I see Connor completely committed to third base. Just being a smart base runner, I just took (off for) second. Obviously, my run didn’t matter. I was risking getting us out of the inning, actually, if I was (thrown) out. In my head, I’m thinking, the first one to make a mistake is going to lose this game. I probably could have been (safe) standing up, but I slid for the back part of the bag. I saw Nick’s glove go down, but when I looked into his glove, I didn’t see the ball there. So I turned my head a little bit and saw it squirm away. I saw Matty make a bee-line home. I look up and he’s about halfway there and I realize that play’s not close. Just a rush of emotion followed and the rest is history.”

The league tournament title was the sixth overall for St. Joseph, which has more championships than any school in the conference’s 31-year history except Edison, which has won eight crowns. St. Joseph is 6-1 in league tournament finals since 2004. The league tournament final was the fourth straight to be decided by a 1-0 margin.

Angel, who entered the game with a 6-0 record and a 1.27 ERA, was as brilliant as Heatter, scattering three hits and fanning nine for the complete-game victory.

As he has done all season long, Angel stepped up his intensity and increased his velocity upon getting himself into and out of trouble in the late innings.

The hard-throwing senior right-hander issued his first walk of the game, a leadoff free pass to cleanup batter Shawn Eldridge on a full-count offering to start the seventh inning. After Heatter followed with a flawlessly executed sacrifice bunt to advance the runner, Angel walked Ruckdeschel on another full-count delivery, putting runners on first and second with one away. Angel fanned Pedulla looking on three consecutive pitches and fanned freshman center fielder Bryant Skurbe, who singled in his previous at-bat, on a 2-2 fastball to escape the jam. Angel actually let out a grunt (illustrating how hard he was throwing) while unleashing a fastball in that seventh inning that the overflow crowd at Raymond J. Cipperly Field could clearly hear.

“My favorite part of this game is to be able to face adversity and get through it,” Angel said. “Luckily, I was able to get through it today. I’ve been going at it with (Heatter) since we were eight years old in travel ball. I was happy to be able to come out on top. When I needed my (strikeout) pitch, I could have gone to the slider or changeup, but I really bared down and threw it (the fastball) as hard as I could. I take pride in how many pitches I can throw (97 for the game) and how long I can throw.”

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Kyle Angel pitches for St. Joseph(Photo: Ed Pagliarini)

Heatter faced the minimum 12 batters through the first four innings. After Jon Sot led off the home first with a single – he was subsequently caught stealing – Heatter retired the next 12 hitters before Loffredo singled to center with one away in the fifth. Loffredo was erased on a fielder’s choice and Heatter fanned the next batter on three consecutive pitches.

Monroe mustered just three base runners off Angel through the first six innings. Chris Perdoni legged out an infield single with one away in the first but was left stranded. Heatter led off the second inning with a single to center, took second on a sacrifice and advanced to third on a groundout before Skurbe was retired on a swinging bunt as Warick made a heck of a play, quickly pouncing on the dribbler in front of the plate and firing a strike to erase the speedy Skurbe at first base. Monroe stranded a total of five runners.

St. Joseph shortstop Derek Zelesnick was brilliant defensively with seven assists. He showed tremendous range (especially to his right), the ability to make the tough backhanded plays in the hole and demonstrated outstanding footwork and body control on slow rollers that kept his feet in a position to maintain his momentum while throwing across his body to first base,

Monroe (14-9) was making its third GMCT final appearance under sixth-year mentor Geroni, who owns an impressive 16-5 conference tournament record. The victory extended St. Joseph’s winning streak to seven games. Monroe and St. Joseph split their regular-season series with Angel the winning pitcher in the opener 9-1 and Monroe winning the second meeting 3-1.

One of five conference schools still alive in the NJSIAA Tournament, St. Joseph (20-9) will face Christian Brothers Academy in Tuesday’s Non-Public A South quarterfinals.

“I would have liked to have seen the game decided with Eric on the mound,” said Murray, noting it was a shame such a well-pitched game had to end on a bizarre play. “I hope that people remember the first six innings of this game where Kyle and Eric threw as good a game as you could see, which is what everybody expected.

“I’ve had the opportunity to see Eric throw a lot of baseball games. It’s a shame he couldn’t finish this one because he was fantastic. But I was happy that our guys had some good at bats to put ourselves in a position where something like that (bizarre ending) could happen. That’s what we were trying to do against Eric early, just get a couple guys on base and maybe get a weird play like that, maybe get something to go our way.